Improvement in nut-locks for fish-plates



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JAME'S EIAZELTON AND ALVIN A. SOUTHARDQOF DRAYTON PLAINS, AND OLIVER MERWIN, OF ELBA, MICHIGAN.

Letters Palm No. 89,659, dated May 4, 1,869.

IMPROVEMENT IN NUT-LOCKS FOR FISH-PLATES.

The Schedule refen'ed to in these Lettera Patent and making, parl: of theeame. l

'To whom, it may concern:

Be it known that we, JAMES W. HAznL'roN and ALVIN A. SOUTHARD, of Drayton Plains, in the county of Oakland, and State of Michigan, and OLIVER MER- WLN, of Elba', in the county of Lapeer, and State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Locks for Screw-Nuts; and we do declare that the following is a true and accurate description thereof, reference being had to the, accompanying drawings,

and to the letters of reference marked thereon, and

being a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a section. of railwaytrack, showing our device in use; and

Figure 2 is a view of the lock.

Like letters indicate like parts in each figure.

The nature of this invention relates to au improvement in devices for locking pairs of screw-nuts ou adjoining bolts in their proper positions, and consists in the peculiar c onstruction'ot` a spring-plate, which is pivoted at one end to one of the bolts of a fish-plate in a railway-track, and provided with a jaw on its other end which engages with the nut on the adjoining bolt, and locks the nuts of both of said bolts, as hereinafter more fully shown and set forth.

A, in the drawings, represents an ordinary fish-plate,

' connecting the ends of the railsB, and E are the bolts passing through the webs of the rails and the fishplate.

O and` C' are the usual screw-nuts ou the threaded ends of the bolts, by means of which the sh-plate is secured to the rails.

D, fig. 2, is our nut-lock, struck up from ordinary baud-iron in the form shown, with a shoulder, a, and

vlip,.b, the latter of the proper width and turned outward, so that the jaws d will receive the nut C and prevent it 'from turning.

The other end of the lock serves as a washer under the nut C, and has formed init an elongatedslot, e, the length of the lock D, between its shoulder a and 4lip l), being equal to the distance between the nuts 0 and C when their upper sides are parallel with the tops of the rails, so that when the lock is in position the nuts cannot be loosened by the vibration from passing trains, or other causes.-

To detach said lock and unscrew the nuts, apply a wrench, as shown in iig. 1, so that its jaws will embrace the nut O and the shoulder c of the lock, spring the other end of the lock outward and away from the nut O', when the nut C and the lock may be partially rotated by the wrench, which will permit the shoulder a to be withdrawn from the nut O, the slot e being elongated for that purpose, when both nuts may be removed in the usual way.

The slots in the rails and bolt-holes in the fishplates, being punched from a templet, our locks are uniform in size and shape.

Our improvement is equally applicable to a like purpose in securing the nuts in the followers of steampistons, and in other and similar situations.

What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The spring nut-lock D, constructed substantially as described, and operating for the purpose specified.

JAS. W. HAZELTON.` ALVIN A. SOUTHARD. Witnesses: OLIVER MERWIN.

A. JUDsoN Looms, CHESTER HATCH. 

